Idol
by William Rayne
Summary: COMPLETE - AU (Part I of The Hiro Trilogy): It’s not easy growing up. It’s not easy being a teenager. It’s even worse when you’re Clark Kent’s little brother. Futurefic, 14 years after Exodus.


TITLE: Idol

AUTHOR: William Rayne

EMAIL: knytmare@yahoo.com

RATING: PG-13

SUMMARY: It's not easy growing up. It's not easy being a teenager. It's even worse when you're Clark Kent's little brother. AU futurefic, 14 years after Exodus.

SPOILERS: hints of Exodus and Hereafter

PAIRING: none

DISTRIBUTION: FanFiction.net, email me

DISCLAIMER someone else owns 'em, I'm just taking them out to play. Don't sue me, I have no money 

FEEDBACK: Desired like none other.

NOTES AND NEWS: This is crap, will have to re-do it. Was supposed to be more coherent but still angsty. The flow leaps but I don't know how to exactly fix it yet. Too lazy to give better background, I'll re-do this someday but I hope you like this little one-shot some.

As always: bold italics for stressed, italics for thoughts or voice-over, and underlines for sarcasm or disgust.  

Oh yeah, I'm horrible with tenses, so please forgive me, I'll try to clean and tighten that up some in the future.

164

Idol

Superman flew over the Kansas fields, using both his enhanced and x-ray vision to scan below. "Come on, where are you? You couldn't have gotten far," he muttered to himself as he searched for his elusive quarry. Of course his quarry had one distinct advantage that no one he had searched for had, his quarry had years of practice to perfect hiding from Superman. His quarry was, after all, his little brother.

"If Mom doesn't give you a spanking, I've got half a mind to myself," he said aloud, half hoping that Hiram would hear him. As he searched the countryside, he couldn't help but remember how almost lost his brother before he had known him and wondering how life could've ever existed without him.

***********************************************

Hiram Robert Kent was a miracle baby in more ways than one. The truth of the matter is that he shouldn't have been born at all. That didn't keep his family from loving him any less. Growing up isn't easy in general but when you're Clark Kent's little brother…well, you try being related to the legendary Superman and not having issues.

 Of course Clark wasn't always Superman. For the first 9 years of Hiram's life, Clark was just his protective, older brother. Clark was the man Hiram wanted to be exactly like when he grew up. Or at least that's what he thought as a kid.

Being the youngest has its perks and downfalls. On the one hand, you can get away with things more often than not and on the other hand, you have an older sibling who seems to always be scheming against your fun because it's in your 'best interests' or something like that. The last part is normally dealable but if your older sibling is the Big Blue Boy Scout, consider your fun times ruined. Not to say that Clark was a bad brother to have, he was just an older brother which in itself tends to lend to problems.

Hiram, or "Hiro" as he was called by those close to him, wasn't what you would call a good kid, not a bad kid neither. He was the typical youngest child, always pushing the limits of his parents and brother's patience and like most 'babies of the family', he rarely tended to think before he acted. Take his time in Kindergarten for example, the teachers thought he had an impressive imagination but were worried when he seemed to think that the stories he drew were true. After all, they thought, every kid looks up to their big brother but Hiro seemed to believe that Clark could really lift a tractor single-handedly, move so fast that time freezes and stop bullets with his bare hands. There was a parent-teacher conference about this and Hiro didn't like the lecture that he got because of that. Though he got some consolation when he spoke to Clark who came home that weekend to visit, Hiro's disdain for lectures and trouble only worsened over the years. Clark had told him that weekend, "Don't worry Hiram, it was an honest mistake and there's no harm done. Mom and Dad won't stay mad at you for long. You're a miracle to them, a Hero."

After that, the nickname stuck or at least the pronunciation did. It also seemed like an appropriate moniker as well. Like his brother before him, Hiro never hesitated to help those in need. Unlike his brother before him, he didn't need to try to keep his name out of the spotlight. It worked to both brothers' advantage. Hiro wouldn't have to live in Clark shadow and ironically, he would help shadow Clark's secret by being in the limelight. Of course that didn't mean his heroics were encouraged, in fact they were heavily frowned upon by the family, mostly his parents. _Don't take this the wrong way, son but you could've gotten hurt. Why couldn't you have called the authorities or at the very least your brother. We're proud of what you did but we worry about your safety, you're not like __Clark__, you can get hurt or worse._

It seemed to Hiro that nothing he could do would ever please his folks. When he tried doing his own thing, he was told to good like Clark did and when he did something heroic, he was told he shouldn't act like Clark…he just couldn't win. At least Clark sort of understood the heroism, neither brother couldn't stand by idly when they could do something.

There was a few times that made his parents proud. Like the time he, inadvertently, helped Clark convince Lex that Clark wasn't inhuman. What Lex didn't know was that the river Hiro saved his brother from was laden with Kryptonite and being near the polluted water didn't allow Clark's wounds to heal like normally. He also came up with the concept of Clark's secret identity when he was 9, though his vote for the superhero name of 'Nightwing' didn't pass.

However, as Hiro sat in the Kawatche cave and contemplated the his life, especially the past 5 years since he helped create the 'Superman' persona, he couldn't help but feel that no matter how much of the spotlight he had, he would never live up the standards his brother had set. He sat in the shadows, brooding and finally let out his frustration by throwing a rock at the drawing of Naman.

His brooding and angst were soon interrupted as a hand snagged the rock before it could hit the wall. "I should've known I'd find you here," Clark said to his brother, "Then again, always the last place you look, right?"

Hiro glared and Clark continued, throwing on his best brother 'come on, talk to me' smile and absently tossed the rock from hand to hand, "Never got that saying. I mean, of course it's the last place you look 'cause why keep looking after you found it."

Clark waited for a giggle or laugh since his brother still sat in the shadows and he knew that Hiro would get angry if he used his powers on him, even if it was so he could see him properly.

After a few minutes of tense silence, Hiro just grunted, "Leave me alone."

"You know I can't do that, you have Mom worried sick and Dad's doing better," Clark paused then added, "I know it's not your fault but what happened? Neither one will tell me."

This time, Hiro did laugh and as he stepped out from the shadows into what little light the cave possessed, Clark couldn't help but let out a gasp. His blond haired, blue-eyed little brother had been replaced with a green Mohawk, pierced _punk_ in leather and chains.

"God," Hiro swore, "You and the folks are old fashioned prudes. You know that, right?"

Clark eyed the lead box his brother held and Hiro caught his gaze, "I'm not coming back, Clark. I can't stand it anymore. The people in that town are so closed minded."

"Do you blame them bro? I mean, really, you look like half of the criminals I pick up when I'm on patrol."

As if reading his brother's mind, "I'll open it bro. Question you should be asking yourself is what color the rock is."

Clark held up his hands peaceably, "What kind of people made you like this bro? I mean, quitting the football team when you made QB, dropping your old friends for some girl and now this?"

"I grew up, nobody did this to me. I looked at my life and realized I didn't want it to be this way. I wanted to be my own person. Not Clark Kent's little brother. You're the standard I've been forced to follow and I don't want to walk that path anymore," Hiro screamed and shook as he let out his angst, "No matter what people say, everything I do is compared to what you've done up until you became 'Superman'."

"So this," Clark said carefully, "new you means you have get your eyebrow and lip pierced, hair shaved and dyed and worry your family?"

"Yes. No," Hiro said as he calmed down a notch to think, "I don't know. That's why I came here, to think. Funny though, I come to a place that reminds me of you to get away from your legacy. I don't want to be a second-class Clark any more, I want to find myself."

Clark smirked, "You are something else, you know that?"

Prompted by his brother's confusion, Clark spun to change out of his tights, sat down and continued, "You know how much I wish I had your life when I was your age…"

"Ok, old man. Back in my day…or something like that, right?"

"Ha ha, you smart mouth. I mean it. You have something I'll never have. You talk about me being the standard? For all this 'life re-evaluating' you've done, you seem to have forgotten one important fact."

"Care to enlighten me?" Hiro asked dryly as he defiantly crossed his arms.

"For all my powers, you possess the one thing I never had at your age and that's what makes you, well, you. You have a normal life, yet you still go out and save the day if you need to. If you can help. You think that you've been doing that to try to live up to what I've done. I don't think so and deep down, I know you don't really think that either. You do what you do because it's right. I don't know if I would've had the courage to do that without my abilities, yet you don't hesitate. You're a real hero. I'm just a guy in stupid tights. So what's really bugging you?"

The compliment and jest just barely managed to break down the wall Hiro had put up, he sat down cross legged and set the box beside him "I don't like being on the farm anymore. I want somewhere where there's something to do besides sports and cow-tipping. I don't want to be stuck here. Plus, I think Dad is really _pissed_ about this," he said as he indicated his face and hair.

"Gee? You think?"

Hiro threw him a dirty look.

"Serious, little brother, you shouldn't push the old man too much, you know how his heart is. The doctors say he needs to calm down some, but you know him. Think you could at least compromise some?"

In answer, Hiro took out his lip ring, "That's as good as it gets right now bro. I don't want to be anchored by the farm anymore."

Clark sighed, "It's a start. Tell you what, lose the dye and get the hair looking decent, I'll talk to Mom and Dad about letting you stay in Metropolis this summer with me."

"No spying," and as Clark blanched, Hiro said, "I mean it. I catch even a hint of a glimpse of you flying around over wherever I go without seeing some headline about it, I'll run off to somewhere with lead and take some of the rocks with me. Then it's a deal, k?"

Clark sighed, "Fine, only if you promise me that you don't get yourself into to much trouble and we come up with some way you can call on me if you really need my help."

The brothers shook on the deal and as they left the caves, Hiro turned to Clark and said, "Did you mean what you said in there?"

"About?"

"Me being a real hero?"

"Would Superman lie?"

"No, but Clark Kent might."

Clark laughed, "Ever word, little brother, every word of it. I don't know how you manage to find the courage and strength to do the things you do."

"I had a good role model," Hiro said quietly.

Clark blushed and Hiro added, "Not you, you narcissist."

Clark laughed and changed the subject, "So tell me about this new girl?"

"Lara?" Hiro said, "How about you come through with your part of the deal and I'll tell you when I settle in with you at Metropolis."

"Brat."

"Loser."

"Wimp."

"Ballerina."

"Hey, don't knock the tights, you helped choose them."

"Yeah well, I'm not a kid anymore…they look dumb. _Way_ dumb, why'd you listen to me?"

Clark smiled and said as he wrapped his arm around Hiro's shoulder to give him a hug, "Come on, let's get home before Mom tans both of our backsides."

~Fin~


End file.
